Flexible tile



Nov. l2, 1935. K. R. RUNDE 2,020,575

' FLEXIBLE TILE Filed Jan.l9, 1935 `Tflfa. 1

[p1/enfer KENNETH E, KUNDE Patented Nov. 12, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FLEXIBLE TILE Kenneth R. Runde, St. Louis, Mo. Application January 9, 1933, Serial No. 650,805

1 Claim.

services of highly skilled workmen to lay the same, and the work proceeds slowly. Further, the settling of the walls of the room in which the tile is installed, or other sources of stress or strain easily causes tile to crack or to have hair-lines appear thereon, and which damage detracts from the otherwise neat and ornamental appearance of the walls. The instant invention has among its objects to produce a wall covering of a material that will not crack, peel, or have hair-lines appear there'- on, or have various other objectionable defects, but upon the contrary will retain its neat and attractive appearance for unusually long periods of time, and be otherwise satisfactory and eicient for use wherever found` applicable.

Other objects of my invention are the production of such a tile, that will be easily applied by unskilled workmen, will be quickly laid, and Will be economical.

Another important object of my invention is to provide a tile made of asphalt-impregnated paper stock so treated on one surface to prevent the leakage of the oil or asphalt therepast, thereby sealing the same, and a waterproof and decorative coating superimposed on said oil-sealed face, andin which construction there will be no likelihood of oil leaking through to spoil said exposed decorated surface. u

A further object of my invention is to provide a flexible tile of the kind described, which will be of polygonal shape, and wherein the peripheral edges will. be reduced in thickness or l beveled for substantially the entire thickness of the tile, so that when the tile are laid in peripheral abutment to form the wall covering, the grooves thus formed may be filled with a sealing compound to simulate the mortar joints of real vitried tile, and to anchor the tiles against slippage past one another. In addition, these relatively sharp bevels permit a slight crushing to` gether of adjacent adjoined `elements in the eventthat they should expand, and which will thus take up the expansion without causing the elements to buckle and pull away from the backing wall. l Many other objects and advantages of the invention herein shown and described will be obvious to those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains, from the disclosures hereinl given. l

To this end, my invention consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangementI of parts herein shown and described, and more par- 5 ticularly pointed out in the claim.

In the drawing, wherein like reference characters indicate like or corresponding parts throughout the views, f Figure 1 is fragmentary elevation of a wall to l0 which my improved tile has been applied;

Figure 2 is a front view of one of the iiexible tile elements; and

Figure 3 is a cross-section through adjacent elements, taken substantially along the line 15 3- 3 of Fig. l.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, wherein I have illustrated one of the preferred embodiments of my invention, A indicates one of the walls of a bath-room or the like, that is 20 to be covered with my improved flexible tile elements B.

When laying the usual vitried tile, it is necessary that a layer of cement or mortar be spread upon the backing wall, as well as between the 25 opposed peripheral surfaces of the tile elements, in order to anchor them in place, and that a level be constantly used to insure laying of the elements in alinement. 'Ihe tiles do not actually rest upon one another, but upon the layer of 3 cement therebetween, and as the baking heat in making the tiles causes warping, their sides are not true, and this layer of cement between tiles is absolutely essential. Obviously, the laying of these tiles is slow, and hence expensive. Further, the laying around pipes and fittings further complicate the installation and add to the cost ma'- terially.

In my improved tile elements, they are not o stiif and rigid, but upon the contrary are flexible. 'Ihey are preferably made of relatively cheap, though durable, material such as paper felt stock rolled or otherwise formed to the desired thickness, and generally impregnated with some oily 45 material such as asphalt or the like to bind the stock together and impart durability to the same.

One or both surfaces of the sheets thus formed is coated with any suitable compound or material, as at I, which will effectively seal the oil 50 or asphalt against leakage therepast, as this impregnation substance has a great tendency to bleed or otherwise seep through the sheet to the surface.

superimposed on the sealed face of the sheet is a second coating 2, as of a pyroxylin Vpaint or the like, which will waterproof the face against moisture penetrating therethrough and as al decorative feature, the said coating being of any .desired tint or design to suit various fancies.

- will retain its effectiveness and appearance as long as the sheet lasts.

The bounding edges of the sheet are preferably beveled for substantially the entire thickness of the sheet, so as to provide a relatively sharp edge about the base of the sheet, as at 3. The bevel may be cut after the elements have vbeen cut to size, or simultaneously therewith, the important consideration being that the resultant elements shall have truly straightline edges and that the width of bevels be uniformly constant.

'I'he tile elements are laid to forma wall by applying some sort of la slowly hardening adhesive compound between the elements and the backing wall of the room, and the adjoining elements are laid with their edges in direct abutment without any sort of compound therebetween. In this manner, the layingl of the same can be done by unskilled workmen, rapidly and efilciently, as the edge of one tile element forms a gauge for the laying of the adjacent element. In other words, as the elements are placed in direct abutment, the use of a level will not be required, and the elements will be self-spacing and aligning. The edges of all of the elements are cut true and straight and there will be no danger of the elements getting out of line during the installation.

When laid in the above manner, the whole wall is covered with the elements, and no openings or spaces are left. The elements may be easily and rapidly cut to permit of tting around pipes or other xed structures.

The channels or grooves formed by the adjoined beveled edges extend to substantially the base of the elements, and into the same may be introduced a suitable flller 4 to seal these beveled edges against leakage of oil or asphalt therethrough and to anchor the blocks against slippage relatively of one another on the wa1l, said edge filler being applied with any suitable sort of pointing tool or the like as to make a good seal with the beveled edges.

The wall thus formed will be extremely attractive and will serve the purpose admirably Well, and at much less cost than the true vitried tiles. The joints are lled with the pointing material, and thus will present a truly hand-made appearance, and as a matter of fact the ller will be even more constant width than with vitried tile, as there will be no unevenness or warping between adjoined elements to compensate for.

Having thus described my invention, it is obvious that various immaterial modications may be made in the same without departing from the scope of my invention; hence I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the exact form, arrangement, structure, and combination of parts herein lshown and described, except as limited by the state of the art to which invention appertains, and the claim hereunto appended.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A iexible tile for interior walls made up f a pluralityof such tiles, and consisting of a relatively thin pliant sheet of readily yieldable material, the peripheral edge being relatively sharply beveled for the full thickness of the tile about its entire bounding periphery, so that the individual tiles may be laid into peripheral abutment and whereby lateral expansion of adjacent tiles laid on said wall in such peripheral abutment contact will permit said contacting edges to readily crush Without undue buckling of the tiles.

KENNETH R. RUNDE. 

